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Alumni Association

Alum Success

"I chose to transfer to Lake Superior State University because of the personal attention I would receive. I did not want to attend a large university where I would be a number lost in the masses. The well-rounded curriculum allowed me to obtain my position at John Deere. Having a good balance of theory and hands-on knowledge is critical for my position and Lake State gave me a good foundation in these skills."

Maria DiValentin, Mechanical Engineering 2001
Field Service Representative,
John Deere Power Systems
Waterloo, IA

LSSU Foundation

Life Insurance As A Gift To The University

Specifics on Insurance

There are two ways of giving a gift of life insurance to the University through the LSSU Foundation:

If you retain ownership of the policy:
Simply make the LSSU Foundation the primary, secondary or residual beneficiary of your policy. Giving all or a percent of the benefit to the University is a creative way of using a beneficiary designation as a gift.

If you transfer ownership of the policy to the LSSU Foundation:
If a donor, an insured, makes an irrevocable transfer of a life insurance policy to LSSU naming LSSU as owner-beneficiary, the policy's value is a charitable contribution in the year of transfer, and the donor removes the proceeds from his estate for federal estate tax purposes.

Value, for contribution purposes, is computed as follows:

For Single Premium Policy, which is transferred at time of issue, the single cost is deductible.

For a Paid-Up Policy (whether or not originally issued as a single premium) the deduction is "replacement cost" – that is, what the insurance company would charge on the date of the transfer to issue a similar policy.

For Whole Life Policies on which future payments are payable – the deduction amounts to approximately the cash surrender value of the policy.

For In-Force and New Policies, the annual premium, paid to the LSSU Foundation, is a charitable contribution and may be a deduction on the donor's income tax return in the year in which it is paid.

State regulations governing the deductibility of gifts of life insurance vary. Federal and state rules, regulations, and laws change frequently so please consult your advisors.

It is important that you contact your insurance professionals, your tax advisors and the LSSU Foundation before making any transfers or insurance gifts to the University.

Majoring in Liberal Studies

Eliza Carte

"It is a smaller school so it is easy to get to know everyone. It has smaller class sizes so the faculty can get to know the students." [ more ]